Today Research In Motion® (RIM®) has launched the next-generation in enterprise mobile device management (MDM) – BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion. This tool acts as a central platform giving IT managers the ability to effectively and efficiently manage the following:

I recently spoke with some enterprise customers during the BlackBerry® Innovation Forum in both Toronto and Atlanta about their thoughts on BlackBerry Mobile Fusion – clearly customers are excited. Beyond Mobile Fusion Studio and BlackBerry® Device Service – both of which we’ve discussed previously – many seem eager to deploy the Universal Device Service. Check out a video overview of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion below:

]]>http://blogs.blackberry.com/2012/04/blackberry-mobile-fusion/feed/5Roger B.What is the future of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server? Discussing the Mobile Device Management (MDM) Product Roadmaphttp://blogs.blackberry.com/2012/03/bes-mobile-roadmap/
http://blogs.blackberry.com/2012/03/bes-mobile-roadmap/#commentsThu, 15 Mar 2012 13:30:09 +0000http://blogs.blackberry.com/?p=13009]]>I’m thrilled to take the opportunity today to discuss with you Mobile Device Management (MDM) in the enterprise, and to present a clear picture of the roadmap for what many have known and loved as the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server. Conversation has steadily heated up since BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion was announced, followed by the launch of BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0 and the BlackBerry® Device Service for BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. Now the question has been asked: how do all of these pieces fit together, and where is it all going? You may also be wondering:

Is RIM getting rid of BlackBerry Enterprise Server?

What does the inclusion of Microsoft® ActiveSync® protocols mean for security?

Can iOS and Android devices (both tablets and smartphones) be managed with BlackBerry Mobile Fusion? Will the management be secure?

How will BlackBerry® 10 devices be managed?

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion: BlackBerry Enterprise Server and More

BlackBerry Enterprise Server has a rich history and is recognized as the most secure enterprise mobility device management solution available. Since its inception, the solution has grown in functionality, scalability, and a wide variety of other feature sets, and is now on version 5.0.3.

In the meantime, things in the market have gotten a bit messy and more than a bit challenging for IT administrators, IT specialists, and CIOs. Organizations are under pressure to support a wide variety of devices from multiple manufacturers, as well as multiple form factors, with tablets gaining steam as business tools. As a longstanding pillar of MDM in the enterprise, we’ve worked to provide a clean, simple, and secure solution to help you manage whatever gets thrown your way. This is BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. It’s a huge leap forward for device management, and it’s built on the valued security model introduced with BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The evolution of BlackBerry Enterprise Server is BlackBerry Mobile Fusion.

For those who are unfamiliar with the app, BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing is designed to make your mobile conferencing experience far simpler and more convenient. The app is designed to automatically pull conference call information out of invitations and appointments on your BlackBerry smartphone. It then takes that information and creates a simple one-click “Join Now” button that pops up at the meeting time or the meeting can be accessed from within the appointment in your calendar. On top of this ease of access, you can reconnect with one click if you drop from a call. The app also allows you to manage your own conference profiles which can be included in appointments and invitations. See the BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing website for further details.

With more and more businesses embracing the potential of a mobile workforce and the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) to work trend, managing devices is more complex than ever before. Organizations are often finding themselves caught between providing mobile device choice and flexibility to employees and the requirement to manage the devices that have access to the corporate network and the confidential information that is exchanged on these devices. Addressing this challenge, Research In Motion® (RIM®) is introducing BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion – its next generation enterprise mobility solution.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion helps make managing mobile devices faster, easier and more organized. From a unified interface, a user will be able to manage BlackBerry smartphones, BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets, and devices that use either the Apple iOS or Google® Android™ operating systems.

Many organizations have already completed various stages of testing/piloting of BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0, but in addition to this offer, there is one more reason why we think you should consider upgrading today: Participating BlackBerry partners are offering $400 off the BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 upgrade install service. So if your staff is busy on a hundred other projects, engage one of our resellers to do the heavy lifting and perform the complete installation, customized to your organizations’ exact requirements.

With a free BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, offers of $400 off installation services by selected partners, and a list of new server features as long as my arm, there’s never been a better time to Move Up To More!

Are you using BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0? What features are you finding most useful? Are you still on a previous version of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server? What roadblocks are you facing in launching your upgrade efforts?

Your employees and colleagues want devices that balance work life and home life. They want to manage their documents and email, and manage soccer practice. And a little BrickBreaker would be nice, too.

These needs are motivating the growing mobile workforce to insist on devices that can balance and multi-task. So, what can your organization do?

The “Consumerization of Business,” often referred to as “the “Consumerization of IT,” is a trend representing a shift of mobile technology ownership and responsibility from corporate to personal. This is not without its challenges for all involved. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Brock of the Global Analyst Insights team at Research In Motion® (RIM®), who reached out to Philippe Winthrop of the Enterprise Mobility Foundation to discuss this trend.

Philippe is the Founder and Managing Director of the Enterprise Mobility Foundation, the organization behind the popular Enterprise Mobility Forum – one of the fastest-growing content and social networks exclusively dedicated to enterprise mobility. It was a pleasure to tap into Philippe’s experience, as he has spent his entire career researching emerging technologies and their impact on the corporate value chain. Check out the discussion below:

We’ve built BlackBerry Balance with everyone in your company in mind. Employees will be happy knowing they can carry the BlackBerry® smartphone that best suits their needs and personality; your Chief Risk Officer and IT admins will be relieved knowing that they can now secure business information on personal devices; and everyone will be more connected knowing that one device lets you access both personal and corporate data.

Today, BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express Software was released for IBM Lotus Domino. This means that if your business is using Lotus email, you can now use this free server software to synchronize email, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks between BlackBerry® smartphones and IBM Lotus Domino without compromising security.